ES 8001 and 7001

Natural Hazards and Society

Week 3
Lecture 8 Tsunami

Tsu means
harbor
Nami means
wave

After this lecture you should be able to

explain (with a few examples) the causes of tsunami
describe (with a few examples) what they are like
describe the risks associated with tsunami
discuss the challenges to adapting to them

An important distinction between normal ocean waves and tsunami:

Wavelength

Wind-driven waves have short wave lengths (tens of meters)

Tsunami wave lengths are long (up to more than a hundred kilometers)

Observations to make while watching the following film clip

1) What is the velocity of the water? Does it vary with time?
2) What is the rate of rise of water in the river channel?
3) What is the velocity of the water outside of the channel?
4) How long did the flow up-river last?
5) What happened after the flow up-river stopped?
Ill ask you some related questions after the clip is over

The March 2011 Japanese tsunami in a river

Clicker session

Causes and characteristics of tsunami

Undersea rupture of normal, thrust and megathrust faults

2004 Indian Ocean and 2011 Tohoku

1933 Sanriku (normal faults)

Undersea landslides

1958 Lituya Bay

Hawaiian Islands

Undersea volcanic eruptions

1883 Krakatau

1628 BC Santorini

Asteroids

65 million year ago K-T extinction

Eltanin impact

Causes and characteristics of tsunami

Undersea
rupture
Tsunami
mimicks
the of normal, thrust and megathrust faults
rupture
sub-sea
2004 Indian
Tsunamiofmimicks
the Ocean and 2011 Tohoku
megathrust
ruptureof sub-sea
1977 Sumba or 1933 Sanriku (normal faults)
megathrust
Undersea landslides

1958 Lituya Bay

Hawaiian and Canary Islands

Undersea volcanic eruptions

1883 Krakatau

If the rupture
is 100
km
1628
BC Santorini
wide,
is the initial
If thesorupture
is 100 km
Asteroids
tsunami
wide, sowavelength
is the initial
65 million year ago K-T extinction
tsunami wavelength

The velocity of a tsunami is related to the depth of the sea

Velocity is controlled by water depth

velocity = gravity water depth

(km/hour)

(m/sec2)

(km)

Clicker session
Students who are comfortable
with basic math: Please offer
to help any students who are
not

Make sure you understand the answers to these

questions before the quiz next week.

Seafloor depth (meters)

The waves get steeper and

higher as they come into
shallower and shallower water.
Often they become a chaotic
front, like in the images below.

Wave height (meters)

Animation courtesy of Caltech

km
John and Jackie Knill took
these photographs from the
beach at Khao Lak, Thailand
as the 2004 tsunami wave
broke and flooded onshore.
This was the last photograph
they ever took. Their remains
were identified a month and a
half after they died in the
tsunami.

Causes and characteristics of tsunami

Undersea rupture of normal, thrust and megathrust faults

2004 Indian Ocean and 2011 Tohoku

1933 Sanriku (normal faults)

Undersea landslides

1958 Lituya Bay

Hawaiian and Canary Islands

Undersea volcanic eruptions

1883 Krakatau

1628 BC Santorini

Asteroids

65 million year ago K-T extinction

Time is marked
(obscurely) in the lower
left corner

A hydrodynamic model of the beginning of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami

A hydrodynamic model of the first many hours of the 2004 tsunami

Why did the wave travel more slowly to the east than to the west?

~1,200 km

Sudden vertical
motions during the
2004 earthquake
produced the great
tsunami

Andaman islands

Nicobar islands
The seafloor southwest of
the Nicobar islands and
Aceh rose several meters
over just a few minutes

from Chlieh et al 2007

Aceh

and the west

coast of Aceh
dropped 0.5 to 1
meter

A hydrodynamic model of the 2004 tsunami

overwhelming Banda Aceh, Sumatra

For the most part, the

damage had been done in
the first 15 minutes

6 km

About 90,000 of a
population of 350,000 died

The coast of Banda Aceh

QuickBird 23 June 2004

QuickBird 28 December 2004

before

after

Examples of the power of the tsunami

West coast of Aceh province. The wave ran up the slopes more than 30 meters

West coast of Aceh province. The wave ran up the slopes more than 30 meters

Photo by Guy Gelfenbaum, US Geological Survey

Causes and characteristics of tsunami

Undersea rupture of normal, thrust and megathrust faults

2004 Indian Ocean and 2011 Tohoku

1933 Sanriku (normal faults)

Undersea landslides

Normal faults offshore

Japan caused the 1958
great Lituya Bay
Sanriku tsunami
1933 and Canary Islands
ofHawaiian

Undersea volcanic eruptions

1883 Krakatau

1628 BC Santorini

Asteroids

65 million year ago K-T extinction

Causes and characteristics of tsunami

Undersea rupture of normal, thrust and megathrust faults

2004 Indian Ocean and 2011 Tohoku

1977 Sumba or 1933 Sanriku (normal faults)

Undersea landslides

1958 Lituya Bay

Hawaiian Islands

Undersea volcanic eruptions

1883 Krakatau

1628 BC Santorini

Asteroids

65 million year ago K-T extinction

Eltanin impact

Causes and characteristics of tsunami

Undersea rupture of normal, thrust and megathrust faults

2004 Indian Ocean and 2011 Tohoku

1933 Sanriku (normal faults)

Undersea landslides

1958 Lituya Bay

Hawaiian and Canary Islands

Undersea volcanic eruptions

1883 Krakatau

1628 BC Santorini

Asteroids

65 million year ago K-T extinction

Mw7.9
earthquake

524 m

Hydrodynamic model of tsunami caused by earthquake-induced landslide, Alaska, 1958

Courtesy of Steven Ward, U California Santa Cruz

Causes and characteristics of tsunami

Undersea rupture of normal, thrust and megathrust faults

2004 Indian Ocean and 2011 Tohoku

1977 Sumba or 1933 Sanriku (normal faults)

Undersea landslides

1958 Lituya Bay

Hawaiian Islands

Undersea volcanic eruptions

1883 Krakatau

1628 BC Santorini

Asteroids

65 million year ago K-T extinction

Eltanin impact

Sector collapses in the Hawaiian islands

200 kilometers

Singapore,
for scale

The most recent Hawaiian sector collapse is called the

Alika 2 collapse, on the flanks of Mauna Loa volcano
~100,000 years old

Covers 4,000 km2

Volume 1,500 to 2,000 km3

Tsunami deposits
325 meters above
sea level on Lanai

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8IAgUNr6x4

A wave this high is locally possible, in the case of a large volcanic sector collapse

The ongoing collapse of Kilauea volcano, Big Island, Hawaii

200 kilometers

Singapore,
for scale

The ongoing collapse of Kilauea

volcano, Big Island, Hawaii
A

Normal faults are evidence of the incipient collapse of the flank of Kilauea volcano

Hydrodynamic
modeling of the
collapse of the
south flank of
Kilauea volcano

Courtesy of Steven
Ward, U California
Santa Cruz

Causes and characteristics of tsunami

Undersea rupture of normal, thrust and megathrust faults

2004 Indian Ocean and 2011 Tohoku

1977 Sumba or 1933 Sanriku (normal faults)

Undersea landslides

1958 Lituya Bay

Hawaiian Islands

Undersea volcanic eruptions

1883 Krakatau

1628 BC Santorini

Asteroids

65 million year ago K-T extinction

Eltanin impact

A large, local tsunami occurred during the 1883 eruption of Krakatau

~35,000 people were killed as

tsunami up to 35 m high hit the coasts
of the Sunda Strait

At least three plausible causes

1) An enormous explosion
displaces large quantities of
sea water.
2) The underwater portions
of the volcano subside
quickly during the eruption,
greatly disturbing the
seafloor
3) Large volumes of
volcanic material enter the
sea and displace sea water

Causes and characteristics of tsunami

Undersea rupture of normal, thrust and megathrust faults

2004 Indian Ocean and 2011 Tohoku

1977 Sumba or 1933 Sanriku (normal faults)

Undersea landslides

1958 Lituya Bay

Hawaiian Islands

Undersea volcanic eruptions

1883 Krakatau

1628 BC Santorini

Asteroids

65 million year ago K-T extinction

Santorini

Archeologists have found that the

capital of the Minoan civilization,
Knossos, on the nearby island of
Crete was badly damaged by the
tsunami. This may have led to
the rise of the Myceneans and
Greek civilization

Source of the great

eruption of 1628 BC

The late Minoan town of

Akrotiri was buried by the
products of the eruption, but
all inhabitants had already fled

Causes and characteristics of tsunami

Undersea rupture of normal, thrust and megathrust faults

2004 Indian Ocean and 2011 Tohoku

1977 Sumba or 1933 Sanriku (normal faults)

Undersea landslides

1958 Lituya Bay

Hawaiian Islands

Undersea volcanic eruptions

1883 Krakatau

1628 BC Santorini

Asteroids

65 million year ago K-T extinction

Eltanin impact

o A 10-km diameter meteorite struck Earth 65 million years ago and led to the extinction of
about 50% of known species at the time, including most species of dinosaurs. Clear
geological evidence for an immense tsunami on the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico

o Fortunately, the average frequency of impacts is low

1-kilometer asteroid impact occurs about once every million years)
o 1-kilometer asteroid falling into 5-kilometer deep ocean
Would generate a 3-kilometer-deep cavity in the sea floor
Cavity walls would collapse rapidly and generate tsunami
Kilometer-high tsunami waves would cause immense run-up on shore
Waves would decrease in size fairly rapidly from impact site

A hydrodynamic model of an ancient asteroid impact in the southern Pacific

Courtesy of Steven Ward, U California Santa Cruz

Adaptation to tsunami hazards

Buoys near the anticipated sources of tsunamis detect a tsunami in its early
stages and transmit to the PTWC in Hawaii.

Adaptation to tsunami hazards

Tsunami warning systems give warnings of an hour to a day

Here is a map of the anticipated travel time for a tsunami originating in South America

Tsunami risks and adaptation to hazard

Tsunami hazard
maps help
communities
with
infrastructural
adaptation and
emergency
planning

Tsunami hazard adaptation

Infrastructure

Tsunami-resistant buildings
Warning signs
Vertical evacuation structures

Elevated restaurant in Hilo, Hawaii. Lower level is

designed to allow waves to pass through.

How are we dealing with very rare but very consequential tsunami?
Three examples:
Japan, in preparation for the 2011 tsunami
Padang, West Sumatra
The South China Sea

The 869 Jogan earthquake

A fault model
proposed in 2008

The 869 deposits

Possible 869 deposits
No deposits

869 Simulation

2011 inundation

49

Padang in 1797 (~4,000 people)

Padang now (~800,000 people)

Photo: Jose Borrero

A recent effort by German colleagues

A recent effort by
German colleagues to
estimate tsunami
inundation for an
earthquake I forecast
in 2008
Tools needed to do
this: Hydrodynamics,
a sub-discipline of
physics that is
mathematically
rigourous

I minute

4 minutes

7 minutes

10 minutes

after
arrival
at coast

Proposed vertical evacuation structure for Padang, Sumatra

During normal times, the structure

would serve as a community
recreational area

During a tsunami, people could run

up to the park and escape the
tsunami.

For more info go to http://geohaz.org/projects/sumatra.html

Clicker session

Hypothetical tsunami in the South China Sea

If the 1000-km long
megathrust between Manila
and Taiwan ruptures
suddenly, this is a plausible
pattern of tsunami wave
heights.
Note the focusing of
highest waves on the
southern coast of China,
near Hong Kong and Macau

Hypothetical tsunami in the South China Sea

Note the focusing of

highest waves on the
southern coast of China,
near Hong Kong and Macau

10
8
6
4
2
0

meters

If the 1000-km long

megathrust between Manila
and Taiwan ruptures
suddenly, this is a plausible
pattern of tsunami wave
heights.

10

meters

From Li Lin Lin, Earth Observatory of Singapore